At the press conference of the Information Office of the State Council held on February 23, the Ministry of Civil Affairs stated that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, 203 regions across the country carried out pilot reforms of home and community care. The innovative measure of home care beds has greatly eased family care. The difficulty is in line with the current needs of elderly care services and the development status of the elderly care industry, and is well received by the majority of elderly people. At the National Two Meetings this year, topics related to the construction of homes for the elderly have aroused active discussions from all walks of life.
Home care beds came into being in the reform pilot
Family elderly care beds are an innovative measure produced in the pilot reform of the country’s vigorous support of community home elderly care services under the guiding ideology of “coordination of elderly care in home and community institutions”.
During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, the country vigorously develops community home care services. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance have carried out five batches of community home care service reforms across the country for five consecutive years from 2016 to 2020. As the first batch of pilot cities, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province took the lead in exploring the construction of home care beds in 2017. Since then, with the encouragement and support of national policies, the pilot community home care service reform has been extended to 203 regions across the country. Through exploration and innovation, various regions have carried out a series of family care support work.
In September 2019, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the “Implementation Opinions on Further Expanding the Supply of Elderly Care Services and Promoting the Consumption of Elderly Care Services”. The section on “Actively Cultivate Home Care Services” clarified that elderly care institutions and community elderly care service agencies should provide support for home care services. Extend professional services to the family, provide on-site services such as life care, housework, and spiritual comfort for the elderly at home, and further strengthen the home care. The opinion clearly stated: “Explore the establishment of’family care beds’, improve related services, management, technology and other specifications and construction and operation policies, and improve the service standards and contract templates for home care, so that the elderly at home can enjoy continuous, stable and professional Elderly care services. Where conditions permit, through the purchase of services, skills training for family caregivers of disabled elderly people can be carried out, home care knowledge can be popularized, and family care capabilities can be enhanced.”
With the expansion and in-depth development of the reform of home care services in various communities, the construction of home care beds has achieved good social effects.
Demand-oriented with both economic and social benefits
“Home care beds are an effective measure to deal with the accelerated development of population aging.” said Geng Xuemei, deputy to the National People’s Congress and deputy director of the Anhui Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. Affected by traditional culture, Chinese people particularly value the sense of security and belonging of the family. Statistics show that more than 90% of the elderly tend to choose to live at home for the elderly. In this sense, home care beds not only save costs compared to institutions, but they can also receive professional services for the care of institutions in a familiar environment, which meets the actual needs of most elderly people who “don’t leave home for the elderly”.
“At present, Nanjing has opened 5,701 homes for the elderly. If calculated as a 100-bed medium-sized nursing home, it is equivalent to the construction of more than 50 medium-sized nursing homes.” Zhou Xinhua, Director of the Nursing Services Division of the Nanjing Civil Affairs Bureau accepted During the interview, it was stated that home care beds will become an important direction for the development of elderly care services in the future.
Home care beds still need to be standardized
At present, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has conducted guidance and summary on the practice of exploring the development of home care beds in various regions. Regarding the next step in the development of family care beds, the relevant person in charge of the Senior Care Services Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said: During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the scope of the pilot program will be further expanded to increase the coverage of family care beds in central urban areas or areas with a high degree of aging. Support the family to undertake the elderly care function; further standardize services, organize the compilation of family elderly care bed settings and service standards, and include family elderly care beds into the elderly care service support policy and comprehensive supervision scope; further strengthen support and security, and try to consider the family when deploying elderly care service institutions Provide technical support for elderly care beds, continue to make efforts to guide the development of community elderly service institutions with comprehensive functions in the streets, develop embedded elderly care service institutions and day care institutions in the community, develop family elderly care beds in the family, and form a connection between the street and the community. An orderly and functionally complementary community elderly care service network meets the needs of the elderly for nearby elderly care services; continue to promote the vocational skills improvement of elderly care workers, and cultivate and train 2 million elderly care workers by the end of 2022 to provide talent guarantee for family elderly care beds .
Post time: Dec-21-2021